TED Community » thomas le calvé

More About Me

I'm passionate about

i'm passionate about how passionate and|or desperate any human can be, including me ;-)

An idea worth spreading

A group is a result, not a cause : earth is a simple organism we're part of, where each human makes micro-local choices. Surprisingly, his choices are self-constrained by the imaginary group this very human believes he belongs (family, city, state, civilisation, etc.). So, although any human faces an simple question : "do i want to continue living here, like that, or not ?", his answer tries to fit in a group solution. Imaginary pollutions of the human mind (races, $€£¥, religions, property, dept, growth, boundaries, etc.) make this simple issue that is "willing to live", impossible to address for a single human, since these ideas are complex imaginary structures that need decades or centuries to modify. I like to believe a global machine like "resource based economy" is a solution, but i know it can't be a solution : it will be the positive result of the current crisis we pass trough. or not.

People don't know that I'm good at

painting, crafting, cooking, loving, hearing.

Comments

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• +1

  A comment on Talk: Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness -- from the inside

  Jul 2 2012: I think Philip.K.Dick intuition was right when he wrote mental illness is a time "disorder".. When we take the humanity as a whole, we could say it is quite insane, but the effects of this collective madness called neurosis, which is considered to be the normal behavior, takes a few generations to be seen. Remember that a few generations back, a "psychotic person" was seen as somebody with psychotic "power", they where called a chaman, a priest or whatever, but they where respected, not treated.. (of course I'm not talking of the most extreme cases)

• A reply on Conversation: Fill in the Blank - What the World needs now is __________ ?

  Jun 30 2012: WOW ! That's frightening ! It's unbelievable such words can be written in 2012, it looks like an inquisition statement of the late 12th century! I may have lost all humor, but to me such thoughts, if applied, are a crime against humanity..
  
  I'd hate to know my government wants my daughter to be uneducated just because there is a risk she might prove I'm wrong..

• A reply on Conversation: A conversation with Shell: How can the smarter use of energy and other resources unlock the true potential of cities?

  Jun 30 2012: Who will pay for this work to be done ? Well, who paid for what we already use now ?
  
  We (the people) are slowly understanding that no one really pays..
  
  All buildings, from big infrastructure to the small tool are paid with the complex-looking financial system, which is just a simple virtual-cash machine :
  
  World dept was $216 billion in 2011, but world GDP was only $79 billions...
  World growth was 3.6%, but deficit 4.2%..
  [source:CIA:https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html]
  
  This is no magic : the banking system is allowed to create money, not the actual coins and bills (the M1 monetary mass is just $26 billions), but any virtual money you want if they trust you will pay them back. In fact they don't even need you to pay back, because if you can't, they can resell what you've bought/create with that "money".
  
  The same system drive the business system, where the only thing that is relevant is IP (intellectual property). It doesn't mater if you have a good or stupid idea, until it do produce "money". And because 90% of money is dept, any idea that could make dept obsolete has very few support from institutions.
  
  And this system, which is an insult to the human genious, is what drive the industry.. If we continue to trust that system, we're doomed.
  
  But we can be very optimistic because that system is producing en exponential dept, and this is impossible because it means dept will soon be infinite ;-)
  
  I don't know what system is emerging now, but ressource based economy looks promising, only if it is truely open to anyone, anywhere, at anytime..
  
  The only thing that made it impossible is until now is imaginary. This thing has very ancient root, in religions mostly, and it is, I think, the belief that believing is mandatory for something to be true.
  
  Somehow, humanity as a whole is just like someone plague with neurosis, doing all life long something that makes him suffer, without have a single clue of WHY.. Is sad or comical ?

• A reply on Conversation: A conversation with Shell: How can the smarter use of energy and other resources unlock the true potential of cities?

  Jun 30 2012: You are right Nick, there should be a balance between nomadism/ruralism and sedentary/urban lifestyle.
  
  My slightly provocative words are here because there is a huge unbalance in favor of cities now. I see many ideas that are technically inspiring, but given the actual political world we're in, I now they will just add to the unbalance..
  
  Ex: I was watching a documentary the other day where an NGO was trying to learn to the slum people how to grow some vegetable for them to be able to eat.. That made me sick : all these people where autonomous before going to the city !
  
  That is a constant in today's human construction : forgetting the "why?"..
  
  Ex: mechanical transportation of people (cars, plane, boat, etc.). Those machines are here to let a human move faster, go farther.. But, only if this very human has the right to. Boundaries wont let him go where he wants, $€£¥ is mandatory, patent won't let him build his own car, driver license, insurance, etc.
  
  The result is that if we were to compare to global speed of humanity now and a few centuries earlier, it has been reduced to nil! This is what we see now in Japan : many, if not all japanese people should just move away their land.. but they can't.
  
  So, although I have been a science and techno enthusiast all my life, I think now it is time to focus on political and legal issue, before going farther..
  
  3D printing is another exemple of this issue, which is imaginary BTW. The original FDM patent is 1983 I think. Without this patent, this technology, at least the cheap FDM could have been mainstream since 1990.. But we had to wait for the patent to become public domain in 2006. 22 years lost !
  
  The bottom line is that if the human specie keeps the abstract system that holds all its real innovations, it will find itself stuck in a bottle neck, or a dead end..ø
  
  You know that your projects, even some utopian ones, could be realized in a few years if you didn't have to "sell" them for a few $ ?
  
  We daydream too much ø:)

• A reply on Conversation: Fill in the Blank - What the World needs now is __________ ?

  Jun 29 2012: Thank you for your answer !
  
  You are be right, some people do harm to others when no law enforce them to be right.
  
  I also agree with you that racism is a serious issue humanity has to address. The xenophobia is a phobia that must be treated. I think the best treatment is xenophilia : those who have no fear of the other should show the timorous his fear is nonsens.
  
  I agree a religion can help people to stop fearing, so I agree religion can be a good thing. But, I don't think the whole world can share one religion, neither it can speak one langage.. at least not now..
  
  There is another issue : a religion is an idea, you gave a good explanation of that idea : it is love, or at least respect of anyone, even the non believer. But we see every day people killing in the name of a religion.
  
  It is the same issue with capitalism, although it says "every one can be rich", most people get poorer and poorer, thanks to the monetary-dept enslaving system driven by a few bad boys.
  
  Maybe if UN was saying "ok, now god is proven, his name is whomever you want to call him, but he his real and knows everything you do, anytime, anywhere, with anybody", the world would finally be peaceful, IF everybody believes the UN!
  
  So, the issue with religion, at least for me, is that believing is mandatory for them to be efficient (to bring peace and enlightenment). This is tautology : it is either a virtuous circle, or a vicious one.. Of course, I see an issue on the global scale, at the individual level, it all depends of who is the believer, he can be wise, like you are, or mad like a few are..
  
  Well, at least one thing is sure : religions are a serious issue and/or solution ;-)
  
  I think some atheist are a bit naïve when we they try to oppose science and god : both needs a few people to believe, both can make great things, both can make horrible things. This is why I'm trying to find a way to cure the human xenophobia, which is THE BIG ISSUE, without relying on belief, just by logical poetry!
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Stewart Brand on squatter cities

  Jun 29 2012: hmm. hard to decipher : I may have misunderstood what this human says, but if he really believes cities have a bright future, I'd say he is hyper-naive.
  
  Cities are like any product : 99% marketing.
  
  All those humans are gathering in towns because they heard education is important and will free them from the labour.. They knew how to make food from earth, that is baad : let's educate the people so they will know how to calculate their wealth.. wow! that's a "punch line"...

• A comment on Conversation: A conversation with Shell: How can the smarter use of energy and other resources unlock the true potential of cities?

  Jun 29 2012: About energy :
  
  We produce high voltage electricity, not because we need it, but to be able to transport it.
  Nearly all of our devices use 12V and must use a transformer tu use 110V or 220V.
  A family boat or a camping car use a 12V battery.
  
  99% or our energy "need" is a waste : it is used to make the whole energetic system possible = Pure tautology.
  
  We work to sustain the work. That's nonsens. (or maybe I'm an idiot?)

• A comment on Conversation: A conversation with Shell: How can the smarter use of energy and other resources unlock the true potential of cities?

  Jun 29 2012: Somehow, I think a smarter use of energy and technology will, or at least could, make cities obsolete.
  
  Think of it : machines are smaller now, we may not need gigantic centralized production anymore.. We may not need to transport all this energy, food, goods etc..
  
  I'd rather imagine a world where a city is a transitory project, when needed.
  I'd rather imagine a world where where any human can move and live where he wants, having all the tools he needs to make electricity, desalinate water, farm, print objects, etc..

• A reply on Conversation: Fill in the Blank - What the World needs now is __________ ?

  Jun 29 2012: hmm..
  #1 : we don't know how many we are, it's all statistics :
  
  We may be 7 or 3.5 or 14 billions. It is just like when a demonstration happened : those who made the march say they where 1000, the police say 500. Who do you believe ? Who is making the number ? The truth is that except for maybe 1 billion people living in countries with enough time to do proper census, we don't have a clue of how many we are.
  
  #2 : if we are really 7e9 humans, and the current growth is really 2.45 children/women, it is just enough !
  
  Some demographers even think this is not enough to keep the human on board.. I don't know.. What I know, is that the earth is young and has vast unused places where we could live. We don't have to follow the vegetation (earth albedo -> climate), we can make it happen where we want to !
  
  Being 7 billions is perfect ! Now we can make this whole planet green and blue ! If we want to, if we don't wait for someone else to tell us to do. We can live here, peacefully, now..
  
  #Botton line : stop thinking suicide is our only hope, or you'll do it ø:)
  
  ps.Of course your post may be a joke, but who knows ?

• A reply on Conversation: Fill in the Blank - What the World needs now is __________ ?

  Jun 29 2012: It could be ! ..But it's hard to prove that to someone who already believes someone or something else..
  
  I don't think religions are a real issue. Any modern god says more or less the same thing to his believers : live and love in peace..
  
  But what to do when people do not believe that living peacefully is all they have to do?
  
  We can't force them, because they are already fettered.. Their god may be called mr.$€£¥, or mr.Dept or mr.X, I'm not sure replacing it with another One is the solution, although I admit it would be better than nothing, but I'm wary of named solutions, even "Allah" or "Christ" : those have been already used to justify too many deaths for me.
  
  That been said, as I know religion is a serious thing, i hope I didn't hurt your feelings with my words.. Peace~ø:)